Effect of Visual Media Use on School Performance: A Prospective Study

Purpose: To identify mechanisms for the impact of visual media use on adolescents\u27 school performance. Methods: We conducted a 24-month, four-wave longitudinal telephone study of a national sample of 6,486 youth aged 10 to 14 years. Exposure measures: latent construct for screen exposure time (weekday time spent viewing television/playing videogames, presence of television in bedroom) and variables for movie content (proportion of PG-13 and R movies viewed). Outcome measure: self- and parent reports of grades in school. Effects of media exposures on change in school performance between baseline and 24 months were assessed using structural equation modeling. Information about hypothesized mediators (substance use, sensation seeking, and school problem behavior) was obtained at baseline and at the 16-month follow-up. Results: Adjusted for baseline school performance, baseline levels of mediators, and a range of covariates, both screen exposure time and media content had adverse effects on change in school performance. Screen exposure had an indirect effect on poor school performance through increased sensation seeking. Viewing more PG-13 and R-rated movies had indirect effects on poor school performance mediated through increases in substance use and sensation seeking. R-rated viewing also had an indirect effect on poor school performance through increased school behavior problems. The effect sizes of exposure time and content on the intermediate variables and ultimately on school performance were similar to those for previously recognized determinants of these mediators, including household income, parenting style, and adolescents\u27 self-control. Conclusions: These aspects of visual media use adversely affect school performance by increasing sensation seeking, substance use, and school problem behavior

Introduction: new research in monetary history - A map

This handbook aims to provide a comprehensive (though obviously not exhaustive) picture of state-of-the-art international scholarship on the history of money and currency. The chapters of this handbook cover a wide selection of research topics. They span chronologically from antiquity to nowadays and are geographically stretched from Latin America to Asia, although most of them focus on Western Europe and the USA, as a large part of the existing research does. The authors of these chapters constitute, we hope, a balanced sample of various generations of scholars who contributed to what Barry Eichengreen defined as "the new monetary and financial history" – an approach that combines the analysis of monetary aggregates and policies with the structure and dynamics of the banking sector and financial markets. We have structured this handbook in ten broad thematic parts: the historical origins of money; money, coinage, and the state; trade, money markets, and international currencies; money and metals; monetary experiments; Asian monetary systems; exchange rate regimes; monetary integration; central banking and monetary policy; and aggregate price shocks. In this introduction, we offer for each part some historical context, a few key insights from the literature, and a brief analytical summary of each chapter. Our aim is to draw a map that hopefully will help readers to organize their journey through this very wide and diverse research area

ST2 and IL-33 in Pregnancy and Pre-Eclampsia

Normal pregnancy is associated with a mild systemic inflammatory response and an immune bias towards type 2 cytokine production, whereas pre-eclampsia is characterized by a more intense inflammatory response, associated with endothelial dysfunction and a type 1 cytokine dominance. Interleukin (IL)-33 is a newly described member of the IL-1 family, which binds its receptor ST2L to induce type 2 cytokines. A soluble variant of ST2 (sST2) acts as a decoy receptor to regulate the activity of IL-33. In this study circulating IL-33 and sST2 were measured in each trimester of normal pregnancy and in women with pre-eclampsia. While IL-33 did not change throughout normal pregnancy, or between non-pregnant, normal pregnant or pre-eclamptic women, sST2 was significantly altered. sST2 was increased in the third trimester of normal pregnancy (p<0.001) and was further increased in pre-eclampsia (p<0.001). This increase was seen prior to the onset of disease (p<0.01). Pre-eclampsia is a disease caused by placental derived factors, and we show that IL-33 and ST2 can be detected in lysates from both normal and pre-eclampsia placentas. ST2, but not IL-33, was identified on the syncytiotrophoblast layer, whereas IL-33 was expressed on perivascular tissue. In an in vitro placental perfusion model, sST2 was secreted by the placenta into the ‘maternal’ eluate, and placental explants treated with pro-inflammatory cytokines or subjected to hypoxia/reperfusion injury release more sST2, suggesting the origin of at least some of the increased amounts of circulating sST2 in pre-eclamptic women is the placenta. These results suggest that sST2 may play a significant role in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia and increased sST2 could contribute to the type 1 bias seen in this disorder

American Legacy Foundation, First Look Report 18. Character Smoking in Top Box Office Movies

A strong body of evidence now links exposure to smoking in movies with adolescent smoking, identifying it as a key risk factor. Given this link, it is important to examine the way movies portray smoking and to monitor how often smoking occurs in movies over time. With support from the National Cancer Institute and the American Legacy Foundation, researchers at Dartmouth Medical School have conducted an extensive content analysis of 1000 movies, the top 100 box office hits each year from 1996-2005. This Legacy First Look Report examines how smokers are portrayed in these movies and describes trends in movie smoking, by movie and by movie character.FindingsOur data about movie character smoking show: The portrayal of smokers is often unrealistic, with affluent male characters accounting for a much larger proportion of the tobacco users in movies than in the U.S.;Smokers in movies are rarely portrayed as having a motive for smoking, and smoking status tends not to differentiate types of characters;Tobacco use in movies is not related to box office success.Our data on movie trends in the top 100 box office hits from 1996-2005 show:Although the percent of movies with tobacco imagery has declined, the majority of movies continued to depict tobacco use or imagery, with 56% of youth rated movies in 2005 containing smoking. Smoking delivered by youth rated movies as an aggregate increased by 12%, from 238 episodes in 2004 to 267 in 2005

Mental Health Problems and Onset of Tobacco Use Among 12- to 24-Year-Olds in the PATH Study

Objective: To examine whether mental health problems predict incident use of 12 different tobacco products in a nationally representative sample of youth and young adults. Method: This study analyzed Wave (W) 1 and W2 data from 10,533 12- to 24-year-old W1 never tobacco users in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Self-reported lifetime internalizing and externalizing symptoms were assessed at W1. Past 12-month use of cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), traditional cigars, cigarillos, filtered cigars, pipe, hookah, snus pouches, other smokeless tobacco, bidis and kreteks (youth only), and dissolvable tobacco was assessed at W2. Results:In multivariable regression analyses, high-severity W1 interalizing (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.3 - 1.8) and externalizing (AOR=1.3, 95% CI=1.1-1.5) problems predicted W2 onset of any tobacco use compared to no/low/moderate severity. High-severity W1 internalizing problems predicted W2 use onset across most tobacco products. High-severity W1 externalizing problems predicted onset of any tabacco (AOR=1.6, 95% C1=1.3-1.8), cigarettes (AOR=1.4, 95% CI=1.0-2.0), ENDS (AOR=1.8, 95& CI=1.5-2.1), and cigarillos (AOR=1.5, 95% CI=1.0-2.1) among youth only. Conclusion: Internalizing and externalizing problems predicted onset of any tobacco use. However, findings differed for internalizing and exter- nalizing problems across tobacco products, and by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. In addition to screening for tobacco product use, health care providers should screen for a range of mental health problems as a predictor of tobacco use. Interventions addressing mental health problems may prevent youth from initiating tobacco use

Comparison of FOLFIRI With or Without Cetuximab in Patients With Resected Stage III Colon Cancer; NCCTG (Alliance) Intergroup Trial N0147

Background: Two arms with FOLFIRI, with or without cetuximab, were initially included in the randomized phase III intergroup clinical trial NCCTG (North Central Cancer Treatment Group) N0147. When other contemporary trials demonstrated no benefit to using irinotecan as adjuvant therapy, the FOLFIRI-containing arms were discontinued. We report the clinical outcomes for patients randomized to FOLFIRI with or without cetuximab. Patients and Methods: After resection, patients were randomized to 12 biweekly cycles of FOLFIRI, with or without cetuximab. KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) mutation status was retrospectively determined in a central lab. The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS). Secondary end points included overall survival (OS) and toxicity. Results: One hundred and six patients received FOLFIRI and 40 received FOLFIRI plus cetuximab. Median follow-up was 5.95 years (range, 0.1-7.0 years). The addition of cetuximab showed a trend toward improved DFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.53; 95% CI, 0.26-1.1; P = .09) and OS (HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.17-1.16; P = .10) in the overall group, regardless of KRAS status, and in patients with wild type KRAS. Grade ≥ 3 nonhematologic adverse effects were significantly increased in the cetuximab versus FOLFIRI-alone arm (68% vs. 46%; P = .02). Adjuvant FOLFIRI resulted in a 3-year DFS less than that expected for FOLFOX. Conclusion: In this small randomized subset of patients with resected stage III colon cancer, the addition of cetuximab to FOLFIRI was associated with a nonsignificant trend toward improved DFS and OS. Nevertheless, considering the limitations of this analysis, FOLFOX without the addition of a biologic agent remains the standard of care for adjuvant therapy in resected stage III colon cancer

2 5/18/07 Donald A. Williams III Owls Head. ME

Subject: [Fwd: ublic comment on federal register of 4/30107 vol 72 #82 pg 21226]-------- Original Message------